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The Night Orion Lost His Belt

5th grade fiction passage about a missing patch of stars: 219 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

5th grade fiction a missing patch of stars 219 words

The Night Orion Lost His Belt

Jun volunteered at the town planetarium on Friday nights, and he liked to arrive early to see the dome before the crowd came. That evening, he switched on the star projector, a big dark ball with thousands of tiny holes. Light poured through the holes and painted the night sky across the ceiling.

Something was wrong. In the winter part of the sky, the hunter Orion stood with his shoulders and his knees, but his belt was gone. The three bright stars that make the belt were missing.

Ms. Ortega, the director, frowned. "Perhaps the bulb is failing," she said. But Jun noticed that every other star was shining brightly. Only one small patch had gone dark, and a weak bulb would not pick just one spot.

"A bulb would fade the whole sky," he said. "Something is blocking those holes."

He stood on a stool and shone a flashlight at the ball. A yellow square was stuck to its side, right over the place where the belt stars came out. It was a note from the cleaning crew. It said, Please do not dust the ball.

Jun peeled it away with a careful fingertip. At once, the three stars blazed back onto the dome.

"Orion lost his belt to a sticky note," Ms. Ortega said with a laugh.

Questions

  1. What was missing from the sky on the dome? in the text

  2. What did Ms. Ortega first guess was wrong? in the text

  3. What did Jun find stuck to the star projector? in the text

  4. Why did Jun decide the problem was not a failing bulb? think about it

  5. Why did the stars return when Jun peeled the note away? think about it

  6. Why does the story say the dome was painted with light? in the text

Words to know

planetarium
a building with a dome where the night sky is shown
volunteered
worked to help without being paid
projector
a machine that shines a picture onto a surface
director
the person who is in charge of a place
blazed
burned or shone very brightly
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One passage, three levels

The same topic and facts written three ways, so a mixed class can read and talk about one text. Each group’s sheet shows only a shape; the key says which is which.

● Easier · 207 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.6

Jun helped at the town planetarium on Friday nights. He liked to come early and see the dome before the crowd. That evening, he turned on the star projector. It was a big dark ball with thousands of tiny holes. Light came through the holes and made a night sky on the ceiling.

Something was wrong. In the winter sky, the hunter Orion had his shoulders and his knees, but no belt. The three bright stars of the belt were gone.

Ms. Ortega, the director, frowned. "Maybe the bulb is failing," she said. But Jun saw that all the other stars were bright. Only one small patch was dark. A weak bulb would not pick just one spot.

"A bulb would fade the whole sky," he said. "Something is blocking those holes."

He stood on a stool and shone a flashlight at the ball. A yellow square was stuck to its side, right where the belt stars came out. It was a note from the cleaning crew. It said, Please do not dust the ball.

Jun peeled it off with a careful finger. The three stars shone back on the dome at once.

"Orion lost his belt to a sticky note," Ms. Ortega said, and she laughed.

▲ This passage · 219 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.1

Jun volunteered at the town planetarium on Friday nights, and he liked to arrive early to see the dome before the crowd came. That evening, he switched on the star projector, a big dark ball with thousands of tiny holes. Light poured through the holes and painted the night sky across the ceiling.

Something was wrong. In the winter part of the sky, the hunter Orion stood with his shoulders and his knees, but his belt was gone. The three bright stars that make the belt were missing.

Ms. Ortega, the director, frowned. "Perhaps the bulb is failing," she said. But Jun noticed that every other star was shining brightly. Only one small patch had gone dark, and a weak bulb would not pick just one spot.

"A bulb would fade the whole sky," he said. "Something is blocking those holes."

He stood on a stool and shone a flashlight at the ball. A yellow square was stuck to its side, right over the place where the belt stars came out. It was a note from the cleaning crew. It said, Please do not dust the ball.

Jun peeled it away with a careful fingertip. At once, the three stars blazed back onto the dome.

"Orion lost his belt to a sticky note," Ms. Ortega said with a laugh.

■ Harder · 230 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.9

Jun volunteered at the town planetarium on Friday evenings, and he enjoyed arriving early to admire the dome before the audience trickled in. That night, he switched on the star projector, an enormous dark sphere pierced with thousands of tiny holes. Light streamed through the holes and painted a glittering night sky across the ceiling.

Something was clearly wrong. In the winter portion of the sky, the great hunter Orion stood with his shoulders and his knees in place, but his belt had vanished. The three bright stars that form the belt were nowhere to be seen.

Ms. Ortega, the director, frowned. "Perhaps the bulb is failing," she suggested. Jun, however, noticed that every other star was still shining brightly. Only one small patch had gone dark, and a weakening bulb would hardly single out one spot.

"A bulb would dim the entire sky," he said. "Something is blocking those particular holes."

He climbed onto a stool and aimed a flashlight at the sphere. A yellow square clung to its side, directly over the place where the belt stars shone through. It was a note from the cleaning crew, and it read, Please do not dust the ball.

Jun peeled it away with a careful fingertip. Instantly, the three stars blazed back onto the dome.

"Orion lost his belt to a sticky note," Ms. Ortega said with a hearty laugh.

Download as one PDF

How to use it

  1. Press Read it big (or B) to put the text on the projector, or Full screen (F) to fill the whole screen.
  2. Ask the questions one at a time and use Show answer when the class has decided. A shows or hides every answer.
  3. Print student copy for the class, or Print with answers for yourself.

Ideas for class

  • Before reading, put planetarium, volunteered, projector, director and blazed on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the story will be about.
  • Read it aloud once while students follow along, then have them reread it alone or with a partner. At a calm 100 words a minute it takes about 2 minutes to read aloud.
  • Use the Read it big button (or B) to put the text on the projector, and Show answer on one question at a time so the class commits to an answer first.
  • Question 4 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to retell the story in three sentences: how it began, what the problem was, and how it ended.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "The Night Orion Lost His Belt"?

It was written for 5th grade. It has 219 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 4.1. That is a formula's estimate from sentence length and syllables, and it is not a Lexile or a guided reading level, so check it against your students.

What do the questions ask?

There are six. 4 ask for something the text says directly and 2 ask the reader to work something out from clues. Each has an answer in the key, and the answers are written as a teacher would accept them, not as the only possible wording.

How long does it take to read?

About 2 minutes read aloud at 100 words a minute. For a one-minute fluency check, paste it into the fluency timer and use the word count.

Can I print it?

Yes. Print student copy gives the passage, the questions with lines to write on, and the word meanings. Print with answers gives the same page with the answers filled in. Both are made in your browser.

Is this passage from a published book?

No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.

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